The use of laser porators for forming micropores in the stratum corneum has proven to be an important advancement in the healthcare field. Laser thermal ablation devices, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,211, provide a means of quickly and efficiently forming a micropore in the stratum comeum so that interstitial fluids can be easily gathered therefrom for testing the analytes present in the fluid. This has proven to be a very simple yet effective way of testing for glucose, for example. Moreover, the use of laser porators of the type described in the above-referenced patent has led to the development of improved glucose monitoring and testing systems, such as those developed by SpectRx, Inc. of Norcross, Ga.
When used as a porator for forming micropores in the stratum corneum of a person's skin, the known types of laser ablation devices emit and focus a beam of light at a focal point on the stratum corneum for defining, i.e. burning, an opening in the skin layer without penetrating any deeper into the epidermis of the person being tested. Thereafter, interstitial fluids will flow into the opening, or can be drawn into the opening by the use of a separate device, for example, the electro-poration device described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,316.
Additional laser ablation devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,252, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,496.
What is common to the laser porators of the aforementioned patents, and as illustrated in FIG. 1 hereof, is a laser poration device 5 provided with a light source 6, typically a laser of some type, which laser emits a beam of light directed toward a collimating lens 9. The collimating lens gathers the beam of light and forms it into a columnar beam of light, and directs the beam of light to a spaced focusing lens 11. From the focusing lens, the beam of light is directed toward and focused on a focal point 13 defined on a spaced surface plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,252 illustrates a laser ablation device of the known type in FIGS. 1 and 3 thereof, and also shows in FIG. 5A thereof an ablation device having a spaced arrangement of prisms positioned with respect to the light source for use in splitting the beam of light emitted from the light source into separate beams of light, each beam of light being simultaneously directed to a surface plane. The device of the '252 patent also discloses, in FIG. 5B, a powered acousto-optic modulator for use in creating separate beams of light.
A problem with the known types of laser ablation/poration devices, however, results from the size of the device necessary to emit and focus a beam of light, and the need or desire to form more than one micropore in the stratum corneum of a person being tested.
There is a need, therefore, for a portable laser poration device which can quickly and easily emit at least one focused beam of light directed to at least two spaced focal points on a surface plane spaced from the device. Moreover, there is a need for such an improved device which remains relatively compact, yet flexible enough for use in a variety of applications. There is also a need for an improved laser porator which will more efficiently gather the beam of light emitted from the light source, focus the beam of light, and direct it to the at least two spaced locations on the surface plane.